This invention relates to decorative wood veneer products.
Wood veneer products are commonly used as decorative surfacing for furniture, interior and exterior components of automobiles, and the like. Typically, fused decorative products for furniture and automotive applications are made by bonding thin sheets of high-quality wood to a core material such as plywood, metal or particleboard. A disadvantage with these types of products is that they exhibit relatively poor flexibility, moldability, foldability, or shapeability, and are not acid-free or photo-safe. In general it is only possible to bend such laminates only slightly and typically only in one direction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,194,310 describes a micro-thin veneer film of natural wood bonded to and supported by a thin film of a backing material, wherein the film is flexible, strong and capable of multiple flexure without stretching or fatigue. Examples of backing materials include a web of paper, synthetic resin or other suitable, flexible sheet-like material. The micro-thin veneer film has the advantage of providing an extremely flexible sheet-like material that achieves a decorative effect with the use of a minimal quantity of wood, thus reducing cost and increasing the use effectiveness of timber resources. The product is capable of use in substantially the same manner as known heavy-duty paper or plastic products on which there has been printed a simulated wood grain design, thus permitting a natural wood layer to be bent 180xc2x0 over a fold line without normally producing a visible rupture transverse to the wood grain. The wood veneer is bonded to a polyester backing film using a layer of a suitable pressure-sensitive adhesive or a thermoplastic or a thermosetting plastic.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,933 describes a plastic-wood composite created by preparation of the wood surface through heating, drying and crushing of the outer cell layers and a subsequent combining, under heat, of the prepared wood surface with a plastic sheeting coated with a polymeric material. Disclosed examples of an adhesive layer that may be used for bonding the plastic sheeting to the wood veneer include polyester ethylvinyl acetate copolymer, ethylvinyl acetate polymer, methylmethacrylate polymer, acrylic polymer and polyethylene.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,698,061 describes a method of bonding wood materials using a copolyester. The copolyester film is applied to a veneer or core material under heat and pressure or optionally by radio frequency energy. The wooden faced veneers used in the method described in the ""061 patent are said to have a thickness of {fraction (1/30)} inch or thinner, and are said to be especially useful in the production of flat, decorative plywood.
The present invention, in one aspect provides an ultra-thin xe2x80x9ccomposition veneerxe2x80x9d that is extremely flexible such that the wood veneer is foldable and moldable. In accordance with this aspect of the invention, a plastic film is fused directly into a wood veneer having a thickness of from about 0.003 to about 0.01 inch. The result is a composition veneer, in which the plastic film impregnates the wood, leaving not only a smooth protective polymer surface on the wood veneer, but also changing the physical characteristics of both the wood and the plastic film.
The term xe2x80x9ccomposition veneerxe2x80x9d is used to capture the integration of the plastic film and the wood veneer, and distinguish from a laminate structure, wherein there are two separate and distinguishable layers. The degree of integration of the plastic film into the wood veneer results in a composition veneer in which the wood and plastic from the film cannot be separated mechanically.
The composition wood veneer can be folded, without breaking, which is extraordinary. It can be molded into a three-dimensionally curved configuration. It can, of course, be used in a conventional manner.
These and other features, advantages and objects of the present invention will be further understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art by reference to the following specification, claims and appended drawings.